Friday, June 10, 2005

Public Broadcasting Targeted By House

If anyone thinks that this Republican led government is good for the people, well - they should take a closer look at the lastest onslaught coming out of The Capitol. This article is courtesy of Gerald Berke over at punditification.

Gerald had this to say: Public radio and TV to be destroyed by Bush & Co. It is really happening. This is not a drill.

A House subcommittee voted yesterday to sharply reduce the federal government's financial support for public broadcasting, including eliminating taxpayer funds that help underwrite such popular children's educational programs as "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," "Arthur" and "Postcards From Buster."

In addition, the subcommittee acted to eliminate within two years all federal money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- which passes federal funds to public broadcasters -- starting with a 25 percent reduction in CPB's budget for next year, from $400 million to $300 million.In all, the cuts would represent the most drastic cutback of public broadcasting since Congress created the nonprofit CPB in 1967. The CPB funds are particularly important for small TV and radio stations and account for about 15 percent of the public broadcasting industry's total revenue.